GEMMA ATKINSON opened up about her time on the popular BBC dancing series, Strictly Come Dancing, where the runner-up revealed it was a “step down" in terms of her already-gruelling fitness regime.

Gemma Atkinson, 34, made it to the Strictly Come Dancing final of the 2017 series. However, the former Hollyoaks star has revealed in an exclusive interview with Express.co.uk, performing on the show was the least fittest she’d ever been. Gemma told Express.co.uk: “Performing on Strictly was the least fittest I’d been in a long time. I gained weight on Strictly.“I know dancing is training and it is exercise but for me it was a lot less intense to what I was used too.”